


A Random Act of Kindness

by slightly_ajar



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Episode: s04e03 Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck, Found Familiy, Friendship, Team as Family, sibling relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22953169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightly_ajar/pseuds/slightly_ajar
Summary: A little coda to the episode Kid + Plane + Cable + TruckIt wasn't the truck that saved the day.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 36





	A Random Act of Kindness

It wasn't the truck that saved the day. It wasn't the improvised radio, the zip line, the mountain and - as much as he loved Bozer and cared about what happened to Ben - it wasn't the doctors carrying syringes full of antidote. What saved the day for Mac was a bar of chocolate. 

Or to be more accurate, what saved the day was what the chocolate symbolised. 

  


“We didn’t crash?” Desi said, glancing at Mac with a tease and a glimmer of genuine shock in her eyes. She looked out at the airport and the rush of emergency vehicles around them then turned back to Mac with a smile. “We didn’t crash!” 

“Of course not.” Mac said with poorly faked bravado. The plane was too hard underneath him and too hard behind him and all Mac wanted to do was curl up into a boneless lump on the floor with just enough wherewithal to pull a blanket over the top of himself and hide in sleep for at least forty eight hours. Seventy two if he could get Matty to agree to three full days of leave. 

The airport didn't have a set of steps the right size to reach their aeroplane’s door and Mac couldn't be angry with them for that. When it’s managing committee had been buying resources for it's hangers they didn't know that one day they’d have to get people down from a Cessna that was resting on top of a truck. Why would they? Mac didn’t know they would need to do that until approximately nine minutes before they did. So all the steps and ladders on site were either the wrong shape or the wrong size and eventually a mechanic pulled up beside them hauling a set of boarding stairs that were inconveniently small and said, "I’m sorry. You're just going to have to make the best of it." 

The paramedics helped Ben from the plane with precise and professional gentleness, Asher hopped down with a lack of concern befitting a child who hasn't yet learned he's breakable and Desi jumped out with the lithe grace of a cat. When it was Mac's turn to leave the aircraft from the nearest available exit the demands of the day caught up with him and he dropped with efficiency but no dignity. 

The sound he made when he touched down could best be described as a thump, possibly a thud. There may have also been an ‘ooofff’ and a muttered four letter word that luckily Asher was too far away to hear. 

The wound to his pride stung. Ordinarily Mac would have dusted himself off - literally and figuratively – but he was worn down by his repeated bursts of adrenaline and jolts of mortal terror and while his clumsy landing wasn’t the final straw on top of the ordeals he’d been through it felt a lot like the straw just before it. 

As Mac righted himself and started to stumble away from the plane the mechanic called to him. "Here," he said, reaching into the top pocket of his oil stained overalls and pulling out a bar of chocolate, "I bought this for my break but I think you need it more than me," and he handed the chocolate to Mac. 

"Thank you." Reserves low, emotions raw and unguarded, Mac felt tears burn in his eyes at the man’s unexpected generosity. 

The mechanic clicked a wink at Mac, slapped him once on the arm and disappeared into the cab of his truck. 

  


“What did he give you?” Desi asked as they sat next to each other in the back of the car that was taking them all to the hospital to check on Bozer and Ben’s progress. 

Mac was idly looking out of the window watching the pleasing green blur of the trees they were passing. Mac liked trees. Trees lived on the land. Tree’s roots burrowed deep underground through thick, dark, warm soil. A tree would stay where you left it, reliably earthbound. A tree would never hurtle through the clouds where it could fall through the air, down, down and horribly down with that uncontrolled, uncontrollable plummeting feeling in it’s stomach and the spinning ground screaming up towards it faster and faster and... 

“Mac?” 

“Hmm?” Mac shook himself out of the panicked reverie he was spiralling into. “What? I mean – pardon?” 

“The mechanic at the airport, he gave you something, what was it?” Desi asked, concern in her face. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah yeah. Umm, yeah.” Mac pulled out the chocolate bar sitting in his pocket. “He gave me a candy bar.” He held it up with a pleased little flourish. 

“That was kind of him.” 

“It was.” Mac agreed. It really was. Mac ripped open the purple wrapper, snapped off the first section of chocolate and put it into his mouth. Sweetness flooded his taste buds and the nuts buried in the chocolate square crunched satisfyingly between his teeth. He could feel the effects of the cocoa tingling through his veins but it wasn’t the jump start to his blood sugar level that revived him. On a day when a family had almost been murdered in the service of greed the kind act of a stranger meant everything. The mechanic, an ordinary person in a world full of ordinary people, had noticed that Mac was struggling and was moved to do something for him with no thought of reciprocation. The reminder that there were people willing to help others for no other reason than humanity and decency was, Mac savoured the taste of the chocolate on his lips, was heartening and exactly what he needed. 

“Would you like a piece?” Mac held the bar out to Desi. 

Desi studied Mac and he felt something happen between then in that moment - an acknowledgement perhaps or an agreement, or something like the beginning of a step forwards - and she tipped her head to the side. “Yes please.” 

As Desi took the bar from Mac’s hand Riley’s face appeared from around the seat in front of Mac, her eyes bright. “Is there chocolate? Did I hear something about chocolate? Because I had a small plane practically land on my head today so...” 

“Here.” Desi handed the bar over after taking a piece of it. 

“Thank you!” Riley snapped off a section of her own and took a bite, closing her eyes in pleasure at the flavour. “That’s better,” she sighed, “that is definitely better.” 

“Being in the truck under the Cessna was a curious experience,” Russ called from his place in the driver’s seat, his eyes flicking up to look at the backseat in the rear view mirror, “what was it like in the belly of the beast?” 

“It was…” Desi turned to Mac, her expression asking what word he’d use to describe it because her vocabulary didn’t include the right one and if such a word even existed. 

“It was…”Mac drew out slowly “…beastly,” he eventually added. He considered the team sitting in the car together with relief, triumph and the smell of chocolate in the air around them. “But everything worked out okay in the end.” 

“My old granny used to say ‘It will all work out all right in the end, so if it’s not all right it’s not the end.” Russ said. 

Riley nodded appreciatively. “She sounds like a smart lady.” 

Russ took his eyes off the road and turned to Riley. “She was but she also used to insist that if you see cows lying down it means it’s going to rain so you couldn’t trust her judgement on everything.” 

Riley gave an amused snort then held out the sweet in her hand. “Do you like chocolate?” 

“Surely everybody does.” Russ’ consternation was such that he almost sounded offended by the question. 

“Yes they do,” Desi told him, “but I don’t know if you count as everybody.” 

Russ gave a hum of agreement. “I can see your point but it so happens that I do like chocolate in almost all it’s forms.” 

“Great,” Riley placed the bar in Russ’ open palm, “Now I know what to get you for your birthday.” 

“All contributions will be gratefully received.” Russ fumbled with the wrapper with one hand, put a segment of chocolate in his mouth then reached behind him to hand the bar back to Mac. “Except if it has peanut butter in it. Peanut butter tastes like regret and the smell of damp garden furniture.” 

“Okay.” Riley said after smiling at Mac and Desi and rolling her eyes. 

They fell into silence as Russ manoeuvred his way through traffic. The whoosh of an aircraft roared above them but Mac didn’t look up. He’d seen enough sky. They sped past more trees and Mac had a happy moment picturing the solid grip the oaks had on the ground beneath them. 

Maybe when he got home he’d lie on the floor of his house for a while just because he could. Maybe he’d go out to the deck, light a fire, open a few beers then rest face first on the floor where he could feel the steadfast safety of the hardwood underneath him while he listened to his friends talking. They’d understand, Mac knew. His friends would understand why he was prone on the wooden boards even though they’d tease him about it. They knew him and they loved him so they’d understand. 

“So,” Desi said, tugging on her seat belt to make it lie more comfortably across her chest, “do you think that if the intel hadn’t been bad the Rebels battle strategy for Endor would have worked?” 

**Author's Note:**

> This story came from two places: me wondering how Mac and everyone else got down from the plane and me reading a book called Sunny Side Up by the Scottish comedian Susan Calman. The book is kind of a manifesto on being kind and finding joy. Susan Calman asked members of the audience of her last tour to tweet her examples of random acts of kindness they’d experienced and she’s included some of them in her book and they’re all lovely, I kept finding myself smiling down at my Kindle as I was reading them. I figured if anyone needed a unexpected moment of kindness it was Mac after the day he’s had in Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck.
> 
> Also, Russ’ opinions on Peanut Butter are entirely my own, I love peanuts but I loathe peanut butter. I ate a Reece’s Pieces once thinking it was M&M, it was a very dark moment.


End file.
